Police posit how 2 toddlers drowned at San Jose day care

Two women who own a day care in San Jose have been charged with three counts of child endangerment after two toddlers drowned in a pool on their property, according to officials from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.

Nina Fathizadeh, 41, and her mother, Shahin Gheblehshenas, 64, co-owners of Happy Happy Daycare, surrendered at the San Jose Police Department’s headquarters Friday after warrants were issued for their arrests.

Their arrests come nearly two weeks after officers received reports that three babies had fallen into their pool at the 1000 block of Fleetwood Drive. All three were transported to local hospitals in critical condition, and the 18- and 16-month-old toddlers died at the hospital, according to San Jose police.

The third victim — a 2-yearold boy — was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to San Jose police.

The two women owned the day care, which operated out of a single-story detached residence with a pool in the backyard in a quiet neighborhood of San Jose. A 5-foot fence with a child-safe gate surrounded the pool and was installed at the time the day care opened.

One day before the drownings, a day care employee informed Fathizadeh that she would not be able to work the following day, according to court documents. Fathizadeh expressed concern to her mother — who was not able to help her that day due to a doctor’s appointment — about being short-staffed on a day where at least five children were scheduled for child care, according to San Jose police reports.

Sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning, Gheblehshenas’ husband watered plants behind the pool gate and failed to close the gate after watering the plants, officials said. The gate was not checked on by either of the women, despite knowing he occasionally left it open, according to police reports.

After the children arrived at Happy Happy Daycare, Fathizadeh opened a door to the backyard and told the children to go outside, noticing that the pool gate was still propped open, police said. She went into the kitchen to prepare tea and oatmeal, with the three children out of view for at least five minutes, according to the reports.

After stepping outside, she went to the pool and found a toddler floating in the shallow end. She removed him from the water and attempted CPR. After calling 911, she called her brother, who was asleep in his room. It was not clear from the police documents whether she saw the other two children floating in the water.

Her brother went to the pool and found the other two children in the deep end. He removed both children from the pool, called 911 and attempted CPR, according to the reports.

If convicted of the crimes, both women could face up to a maximum of 16 years in prison, prosecutors from the district attorney’s office said.